Hostile Genus: An Epic Military Sci-Fi Series (Invasive Species Book 2) Ben Stevens (best contemporary novels txt) 📖

its first birthday, with the remains of cake smeared all over its mouth, cheeks, and chin; but the ghastly mess on their faces was not cake, and their victim would surely never have a birthday again.

The killers studied Ratt for an absent heartbeat and then returned to their meal. Ratt could still hear the cries of the infant, so he pulled himself over the rail on the edge of the landing and dropped down to the sandy ground below. His feet hit the soft sand, which gave way more than he had anticipated. With a sharp pain, his right ankle rolled, and he fell to his side hard. Ignoring the pain that stuck to his ankle like glue, he pushed himself up, spat out a glob of sand-flecked saliva, and yelled once again at the monsters, who ignored him as they savaged the woman.

“I said leave them alone, you bastards!” Armed with nothing more than his fists and his sense of chivalry, he charged the gruesome scene before him, tears streaking down the sides of his face.

Ratt was nearly upon them, when, at the very last second, Raphael acknowledged his threat, such as it was, and sprang to his feet, delivering a spinning backhand to Ratt’s face. Ratt heard his teeth clack and saw a bright flash of white light as the rest of the world faded to black.

He crumpled to the ground, knocked out for a second or two, but quickly returned to consciousness. As his eyes fluttered open, brushing sand away from his eyeball as they did, Ratt struggled for a full second to remember where he was and what he was doing.

Raphael sat down on his back and pinned Ratt’s arms with his knees, just as the direness of the situation returned to him.

Ratt tried to struggle, but he may as well have tried to convince the entire vampire population of New Puebla to go vegan; it was futile. The fight, sadly, was over. Ratt wept, hating himself for being so weak and helpless. He heard and felt his neck pop again as Raphael reached down and grabbed his chin and forehead to yank his head to the side, exposing the tender flesh of his neck. He felt naked, overpowered, violated, and beyond frustrated.

Raphael leaned in, and Ratt braced himself for the bite, but it never came. His assailant sat back up and called out to Sofia.

“It doesn’t have a stamp.” Raphael sounded genuinely confused.

Sofia stopped feasting on the dying woman, left the crying baby still held in the woman’s arms, and stepped over to Ratt and Raphael. She squatted down and examined Ratt’s naked neck. She reached down and took Ratt’s chin in a strong grip and turned his face up to hers. His neck screamed with the pain of such an awkward manipulation. He grimaced through the tears as she studied him.

“How the fuck did you get in here, puto?” Sofia hissed.

Through the fog of rage and grief, Ratt saw a light and made for it.

“I was invited here by the ruler of the city, Don Luis Fernando.” Ratt caught the glance between the two of them; though he couldn’t see the man, he knew he was looking back at Sofia, could see it in her eyes. Knowing that he was on the right track, Ratt continued.

“I am with Lily Sapphire. A guest of the king. I am Miss Sapphire’s lighting technician.” With that small handful of statements, Ratt may as well have shaped a powerful Strange on his assailants, for their demeanors both changed instantly and dramatically.

He saw the look of sadistic playfulness drain from Sofia’s face as she removed her hand from his chin. She stood up and stepped back. Then, looking at Raphael, she spat, “This one lives.”

Ratt exhaled.

“For now,” she added.

Concern returned to Ratt’s brow.

“Tell your employer what you saw here tonight. Tell her I am not pleased with her home-wrecking intrusion into my city and that after she does her little whore song and dance, I will show her, and you, the real hospitality of New Puebla. My husband be damned.” Sofia turned her back on Ratt and stepped back over to the now dead woman and the crying baby.

Sofia squatted down, pried the swaddled baby from its dead mother’s arms, and carried it back over to Ratt and Raphael. Ratt winced in fresh pain as the weight holding him down shifted deeper into the knees that pinched and pressed down into his arms.

While still pinning him effectively, Raphael came up off Ratt’s back and met Sofia’s approach.

“Watch closely, puto,” Sofia said, the dark, sadistically playful quality having fully returned to her voice. She held the baby up. Its rags tumbled free from its shivering, naked body.

“No, please,” Ratt grunted. The duo ignored him. Raphael took hold of the child’s legs, and Sofia moved her grip from the babe’s underarms to its tiny forearms. She took a half step back and pulled the baby back into a horizontal position, drawn up by its four limbs, held aloft by the two murderous vampires.

Sofia smiled cruelly down at the pinned Ratt, her heavily made-up eyes wide with bloodlust and demonic joy.

“Make a wish.”

14

Don Luis took Maya by the arm and hurried her along, back into the palace. His sudden urgency alarmed Maya, and she wondered for a minute whether the vampire lord would be able to restrain himself until tomorrow night, and whether or not she might have just gotten herself in the kind of trouble she didn’t want to be in without her guardians. Maya had put on a spectacular show in convincing Don Luis of her desire to join him, but if he called her bluff before she was ready, she wasn’t sure she would be able to deal with him alone. Sure, she could shape a Strange to open a small window to the other side of the planet, the side where the sun was out and shining, but would he stand idle while she sang her incantation?

“Where